A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

In the work A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess fictional characters are used to illustrate the issues that face people throughout their lives. Many issues are portrayed through the violent acts and prison life and treatment of the main character Alex. Throughout the novel the themes of free will, the necessary evil of government, and the struggle of good versus evil is portrayed. All of these eventually can be narrowed down to a theme of good versus evil. The government sets the limits for what the majority of society accepts as good or bad. They outlaw or restrict what they believe to be harmful or evil to society. A Clockwork Orange represents how even the government is capable of evil. When it comes down to it the acts of an individuals and their views of what is good or evil will eventually affect the communities views of what is acceptable, which affects the country, and eventually the world. Good and Evil individuals can lead to the combination of both of those in governments as portrayed in A Clockwork Orange.

Anthony Burgess portrayed an early 21st century society. It is important to note that the book was written about 50 years ago during the Cold War. The Cold War was essentially an ideological war about the type of government that a country operates under. Burgess incorporates many of the styles of both governments to form a hybrid, half democratic, free market society, and half a communist, limited individual choice type of society. The Cold War had many people worried about the future and this work by Burgess encapsulates these fears. The American's were feeling generally anti communistic in these times resenting the government control of individual liberties seen in the USSR. This worldly view of good versus evil is captured in the Government of A Clockwork Orange that has a repressive totalitarian style.

Contrary to the hybrid styled government seen in A Clockwork Orange, different styles of Government are out there. We still have a few communist regimes in North Korea and Cuba. Despite there not being another super power that contrasts the free economic and democratic society of the United States there are several countries that are viewed from the American standpoint as evil. These countries replace the communist countries of the Cold War. Instead of communism being America's rival, terrorism has effectively replaced it. The less structured systems of terrorism present different challenges in today's society. However it still gives Americans something to fear and when there is something to fear governments are given more control over things. This can lead to some corruption in the government.

Burgess portrayed the flawed government systems of the world in the novel, specifically the prison system. Some people think of prison as a place to be punished for one's evil actions. Others view the convicted people as people who need to go to prison and use it as a rehab to be able to become productive citizen again. Never the less when one becomes convicted they lose their power to make their own decisions.

In the first sentence of part two Alex is asked the same question he is asked in the beginning of the first part. This instead of Alex being asked the question it is a State-affiliated priest. who is asked "What's get going to be then, eh?". This represents how the power of Alex's freedom has been take out of his hands. That contrasts to when Alex was quoted as stating the same words in the first act when he had the power to be able to lead his gang of youthful criminals. When he is selected for becomes a test subject for Ludovico Technique is when the prison system is looked at into more depth.

Being selected for the Ludovico technique was a crucial moment in the plot. It provided a change from the norm in prison life and also provided for a more in depth criticism of the state's prison system. This changes Alex's